Express-Scripts plans $56 million expansion and 1,500 new jobs over five years

St. Louis is headed to the top ten in college attainment.

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A pillar of our economic development strategy is that, “We will win on today’s regional strengths in focused economic clusters. Explore in detail the four sectors that we believe will shape our region’s future.

“The Banker” … from Central Park West to Washington Avenue

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We’ve condensed a detailed three-year plan into a single paragraph we call our Strategy Statement. It’s all about priorities and direction.

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Our research team has probably answered almost any question that could be asked regarding the St. Louis region. If you can't find it in our Regional Data section, please send a note to Tim Alexander at talexander@stlregionalchamber.com.

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Inner City Capital Connections Program has come to St. Louis. To date, this program has helped 837 different businesses raise over $1.32 billion in capital and create over 11,000 jobs in the inner city. Read more about the program on our blog.

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We believe nothing is more important in St. Louis than achieving Top 10 status in college attainment among the nation's largest metros. Visit www.topteneducation.org to follow our progress.

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If your company represents growth potential for the region -- or you know of other companies that do -- we'd be pleased to help however we can. Please contact Jim Alexander at jalexander@stlregionalchamber.com

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St. Louis is home to 16 Fortune 1000 companies and some of the largest private firms in the U.S.; but don't overlook the ever increasing number of high growth small-to-medium enterprises and startups. Click here for a quick summary.

This morning I joined John Hancock and Michael Kelley on NewsRadio 1120 KMOX to discuss the economic importance of (a) building and investing in our community’s infrastructure and (b) "doing the deal.” Recently, two well-vetted major community projects have been approved and then stalled, while the deals that were struck seemingly get rehashed rather than done.

The much-needed upgrade to the St. Louis City-owned Scottrade Center is a case study in smart public investment: This is a $67 million project that modernizes a civic amenity that delivers 2200 jobs tied to activity at the Center, 50,000 hotel room nights, $100 million in City taxes over the life of the building; $60 million in gross revenue in the City owned parking facilities. It is home to the locally-owned St. Louis Blues and numerous, major sporting events and concerts which add to St. Louis’ quality of life.

A proposed Ice Complex in Creve Coeur Park will support more than 4,000 amateur hockey players in our community, host tournaments and other high-profile events which bring thousands of people to the St. Louis region and which would also contribute to the quality of life.

In both cases elected officials, proponents and opponents made their case in front of legislative bodies who after these public deliberations approved the projects. Both projects have been put on ice. When things like this happen, it puts a chill on other deals, business investment and economic development. Private sector decision-makers wait and see: They made the deal, will they do the deal?

We must also be asking ourselves – would this be the case if we were united toward a common vision, worked within a political framework that was more certain, publicly debated the merits of projects but moved forward, rather than sideways, with whatever decisions are made?

Here in St. Louis, we should be building and investing in civic amenities and infrastructure to create jobs, connect where people live with centers of employment, education and the broader world, ensure employers have ready access to critical utilities and freight networks and continue St. Louis’ legacy of high quality civic amenities.

The Chamber supports projects that are: economically net positive, fiscally sound, and doable. Doable projects have the support of key public and private sector stakeholders. This principle also requires that once a deal is reached, all parties can rely on the agreement going forward. That’s what winning looks like.

Local businesses are optimistic about St. Louis’ economy thanks to a strong third quarter. Hiring rates are climbing as the labor market improves. Additionally, improvements in the region’s commercial and residential real estate markets as well as commercial lending show consumers are growing more confident.

The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ Third Quarter 2016 Burgundy Book reports that the metropolitan area’s unemployment rate is 4.9%. Employment growth is trending above the national average, particularly in the private service-providing sector. Business contacts are reporting increases wages from one year ago and expectations that increases will continue through the end of the year.

New and existing home sales in St. Louis are rising rapidly. Home sales continue to outpace the national average while residential construction, while modest, is still higher than last year’s rate.

The positive uptick in construction carries over to speculative and build-to-suit industrial projects. According to the Burgundy Book, “Almost twice as much industrial space is currently under construction in St. Louis compared with a year ago,” indicating the region’s continued growth.